Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, Nutrition

Chronic conditions, such as diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease are leading causes of death in the United States. As emerging economies adopt westernized diets and lifestyles, obesity and its associated diseases are also rising at an alarming rate.

Many countries are now facing a ‘double-burden’ of undernutrition in children and overweight and obesity in adults. Malnutrition increases morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases, and can increase risk of infectious diseases, increase the severity of an infection and impair the response to treatment. In addition, infectious diseases can, in turn, increase malnutrition.

Given the prevalence of infectious diseases and the spread of drug resistant pathogens, innovative nutritional and lifestyle approaches to decreasing morbidity and mortality from infection and delaying the spread of drug resistance are needed to address the global burden of disease.

At the YSPH we use rigorous epidemiologic methods to understand and mitigate the roles of: